


Let The Water Hold Me Down

by coffeespoons



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Not exactly canon compliant by a foot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 13:16:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5335478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeespoons/pseuds/coffeespoons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last person Lapis Lazuli wanted to see when she washed back up on Beach City shores was that pointy homeworld idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let The Water Hold Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> Letting the days go by...  
> -Talking Heads

"You!" Peridot squeaked at the damp-looking blue gem. "Lazuli!"

"You," Lapis replied, monotone. "I don't remember your name."

Peridot sneered, taking in the gem; there was something off about her. "Where's Jasper?" She demanded. 

Lapis stared at her, considering the question. "Peridot. Would you like to see her again?"

And that was about the time Steven Universe walked into his living room and found Lapis Lazuli straddling Peridot, trying her damnedest to pulverize the stone in the center of the screaming Gem’s skull.

\---

"Lapis," Steven began, his fingers steepled thoughtfully in front of him. "I know you and Peridot haven't always gotten along..." He cast a sidelong glance at said Gem, whose blackened eyes darted around the room, trying to avoid the steady gaze of the aquatic Gem on the other end of the table, "but she is here looking for a fresh start."

"That's nice," Lapis deadpanned. 

"It is nice, isn't it?" Steven ignored her tone. "And well, here's the thing: I thought maybe, since you both are kinda stuck here, maybe you could take her under your wing...so to speak!" 

Lapis' expression grew dark while Peridot began to panic, "I actually, actually - it's a nice thought, Quartz-"

"Steven, Peridot, please--” 

"But I don't think it's, well, the best idea..."  
Suddenly Peridot snapped, dropping the fidgety refugee persona. "Did you FORGET she just tried to destroy me a moment ago?!"

"Peridot, relax! Of course not, but I also didn't forget how mean you were to us, and to Lapis, just a few weeks ago. Poor Lapis has been through a lot here, and seeing you must have been a shock..."

The Gems locked eyes for the first time since their fight. Peridot inhaled. "I suppose an apology is in order," she said. 

Lapis lunged at her.

\---

After the initial meeting went the way it did, Steven offered Peridot a couch for the time being. It was his hope that after Lapis cooled down some, maybe within a couple days, negotiations could be reopened for some kind of reconciliation between the two. 

"I don't understand," Peridot muttered. "Why do you care if Lazuli and I..."

"Peridot," Steven reached up to pat her on her nobby shoulder, "I know it may seem impossible now, but believe me: building bridges is always worth the effort. And also, I don't want it to be awkward at parties in the future. So we gotta make this work."

Peridot was not convinced, but a night did not pass in which Lapis Lazuli's dull glare left her mind. 

\---

Lapis was on the beach when she felt a presence. "Where's your human shield?"

"He doesn't know I'm here," Peridot said. "I came to offer you my..." She struggled for the word. "Apologies, at risk of further bodily harm to my person. For the before. And the after, I suppose.”

"And what about now?" Lapis turned to face her, but did not rise from her position in the sand. Quietly, she admired the fading signs of the black eye she'd given Peridot at their previous meeting. 

"I do not intend to give you anything now other than a promise of...harmony, from my end. Ambivalence at the very least. And perhaps, someday, even frien-"

"Don't," Lapis intoned with force. The word dropped from Peridot's mind.

"Am I offending you?" 

"Your presence offends me, Peridot." Lapis returned her attention to the horizon. "You are a pointy little reminder of bad things."

"I'm not little," Peridot muttered. 

"Why haven't you returned to homeworld?" A pang shuttered through Peridot. 

"I don't think I will be leaving this place anytime soon," is the answer she offered. 

"In that case," Lapis replied, "and I say this only as a favor to that boy, Peridot: I cannot offer you anything beyond a promise not to kill you. And that's on the condition that I don't see you around. Ever."

Peridot considered the offer. 

"Lapis Lazuli, I accept."

\---

It took a good passage of time - for Peridot, at least, who was still adjusting to the planet's rhythms - and a rather sudden and brutal happening on the shores of Beach City that left half of the boardwalk in ruin and three of the town's self-appointed protectors sprawled out in the sand, before Lapis Lazuli crossed paths with her former captor again. 

When Lapis approached the scene, she spotted Peridot standing over Steven's motionless body on the beach. Her heart jumped. She rushed the Gem, pushing her into the water.

"Get off of him, what are you-"

"Lapis!" Peridot trudged back up from where she was flung and coughed up a splash of sea water. "He's fine, just a little waterlogged."

"I'm fine," Steven gurgled. "I just need to lay here for a minute."

Lapis looked incredulously from Steven's traumatized stare to the diamond-headed nuance trudging out of the waves and back onto the beach. Peridot was still Peridot, but there was something different - a subtle change to her since they last saw each other; an Earthly glow...or perhaps Lapis was just distracted by the seaweed caught on her ears and wrapped around her shoulders like a tattered cape.

"You should have seen her, Lapis," Steven said. 

Peridot was panting when she finally made it back to them. "Lazuli, I know we agreed to not run into each other like this, but I WAS here first-"

"Shut up," Lapis said. "I’m taking Steven home."

\---

On a warm evening Lapis found Peridot once again on her beach, this time sans seaweed, sans convenient disaster, skipping stones. Trying to skip stones. Throwing rocks into the water.

Peridot noticed her watching. "Lazuli," she said in greeting, "I didn't see you there."

Lapis grunted. 

Peridot's cheeks colored. "I was just..." She shrugged. "Nevermind. I'll be on my way."

Lapis watched her go until the tip of her pointed head disappeared over the horizon.

She'd heard that Peridot moved out of the Crystal Gems' bathroom, but nothing beyond that. Lapis shook off the encounter and went about her business before her curiosity could wander further.

\---

"Do you think I don't know what you're doing out here? Peridot, if you want to join Jasper all you have to do is ask and I promise you I will happily send you to her."

"Lazuli. You have a beautiful view of the stars out here. I can't see them from the city."

Another stand off at the beach. Lapis felt her anger flood her, even after all this time, even with Peridot's odd shape becoming a regular presence in the town. "Peridot," Steven would say off-handedly. "Peridot's learning to cook even though she doesn't eat. Peridot is fascinated by chemistry," "Peridot's taken a shine to squirrels," "Peridot asks about you," and other propaganda.

Peridot swallowed and said: "Jasper wouldn't have been able to live like this. She needed to go down in a fight. I hardly think about her as much as you seem to think I do."

"Peridot," Lapis said, "I will not catch you on this beach again."

And for a long time, she didn't.

She wasn't quite sure what she would do if she did catch Peridot out there again, plunking stones into the water, dancing around angry crabs, or gazing at another starry night. 

But she always looked, just in case.

\---

When another incident once again shook the city out of its slumber, Lapis arrived early enough to get in on the action herself; and this time, it was she who was tasked to drag Peridot's broken body off of the battlefield. One of her legs had been torn off, leaving a sparking mess of wires and a couple floating fish behind. 

When Peridot came to and saw the luminous blue eyes of her nemesis gazing down at her, she asked: "is it finally over?"

"I'm afraid not, Peridot."

"Oh." She realized Lapis was carrying her away from the fray. "Well, isn't this an interesting development." Lapis considered dropping her, but Peridot noticed her missing leg and let out a ragged sigh. "Give me to the sea, Lazuli."

"Who do you think you're talking to," Lapis replied.

\---

Peridot minus one leg was an entirely new vexation for Lapis to endure on Earth. An irritant that grew inside of her and filled her ribs with feelings that reminded her of years she could not, sometimes, believe she remembered. 

"Lapis Lazuli, come to visit the defect again." Peridot's usual greeting in this new phase of their acquaintance. The bitterness suited her, Lapis admitted to herself, much more so than her previous persona of humble rehabilitation.

She took her seat on the couch. Peridot gave her a side-long look. "If you're not careful, I may begin to mistake you for a friend," she said, sing-song. 

The flood bubbled in Lapis' throat.

While it was true that these visits had become a regular occurrence over the last month or so, with Lapis initially coming by as a favor to Steven to keep the moping Gem company while the boy traipsed off on his adventures ("besides, she wouldn't even be around if you hadn't dragged her out of there"), it was not to be overanalyzed. You become accustomed to someone's company, Lapis decided. That's all. 

She did not spend much time agonizing over the dark cloud that had descended upon Peridot since her wounding, or the Gem's refusal to fix herself despite the insistence of her friends. She certainly did not return in the hopes of catching even a glimpse of the Gem she once knew and hated. That would be - well, it just didn't make sense. The very idea filled Lapis to the brim with that musty irritation she'd been trying to quell for some time, now. 

"Peridot," She greeted, "you know I enjoy your negative space."

Peridot's laugh was mirthless. It was not a new joke between them, but it stung still. "I hate to think I had a hand in making you so cruel," she said.

"Well, I don't think you can really call those things hands, Peridot."

"I guess I should find your new sense of humor to be a relief, but it only terrifies me, Lazuli."

 

Later, after a long evening of silence punctuated by the occasional insult (as was their tradition), Lapis said: "I don't understand why you mourn that hunk of metal like this when it can be so easily replaced. And with something better, probably." 

"No," Peridot muttered, serious. "It was perfect. A replacement will never be the same."

"Perfect?" Lapis scoffed. "Peridot, it was metal." She reached between them on the couch and knocked on Peridot's remaining leg. "Metal," she repeated. She grabbed one of Peridot's dangling arms. Knock-knock. "Not perfect. Metal." She went for the other but Peridot wrested it away. 

"You've made your point," she snapped, "I'm a useless idiot made up of inferior materials, thank you. Now, if you're done making me feel worthless, don't you have a beach to haunt?”

Lapis blinked, retrieving her hand. After a moment, she reached out again, this time gripping Peridot's pointed chin and holding her still, erasing the sneer carved into the other Gem's face. Peridot stared at her with confusion and apprehension. Lapis leaned in and knocked on the gleaming gem in her forehead, gently. 

"Peridot," she said. "Not perfect. But a rare Gem."

The water Gem covered Peridot’s open mouth with her other hand, pressing her lips to the shimmering green stone. 

"I saw you," she whispered against the stone. Peridot's eyes closed. "You thought you were going to die. Maybe that's what you wanted. Why I kept finding you out on the beach..."

Peridot stilled. 

"Look at me."

She did.

"If anything is going to put you out of your misery," Lapis moved down from Peridot's gem, leaning in until they were eye-to-eye again, Peridot's stone pressing into Lapis' forehead. "it is not going to be an accident, or a noble sacrifice," she dropped her hand away from the Peridot's mouth. "It's going to be me."


End file.
